20 CAFM software products certified to GEFMA 444

With currently 20 certified CAFM products, GEFMA is proving again in 2018 that the established quality seal of the German Association for Facility Management (FM) is an important quality criterion for FM software products. This year, 12 CAFM applications have been successfully recertified. For 2019, the GEFMA Digitization in FM Working Group expects nine re-certifications and about three new certifications. The currently certified companies are almost all well-known CAFM providers. Already seven manufacturers have successfully certified the new BIM catalogue. "Extending the GEFMA Guideline 444 to aspects of building information modelling aspects was needed to address the growing importance of BIM, especially for facility management," explains Marko Opić, leader of the certification sub-group.

For example, the certification process checks whether a floor plan with detailed information from a BIM model can be transferred to the CAFM system or whether the transfer of equipment (technical equipment, furniture, etc.) with characteristics (e.g. manufacturer, technical data) is possible is. In addition, the import and export capabilities are checked via the IFC interface required for data exchange. "Several mergers (Planon-Conject / Nemetschek-MCS / RIB-IMS) have recently shown that the CAFM market is moving. Ultimately, technological pressure is forcing producers to invest heavily in a way that can only be done collaboratively or within a common framework "says Marko Opić, describing the latest developments in the industry. So far, the new extended certification is not very popular. It offers manufacturers the opportunity to recertify individual catalogues of already certified products with less effort. Marko Opić says: "So far, this option has been used by one manufacturer. However, the extended certification was intended from the outset for a further increase in the range of catalogues and will certainly become more important in the future."

Further information and Guideline 444 are available from the GEFMA.